Up above is Isabelle's outfit for the day. Add a pair of stockings and replace the sneakers with ankle boots and it'll be complete!

I slammed my locker door shut with more force than necessary. I was cranky this morning. Why? Because Logan came home late last night and didn't talk to me like usual. He avoided me all morning and drove Cher whereas I drove my Maserati. He even went as far as parking far away from me.

He didn't even chat with me near my locker.

It happened one day, Isabelle. Doesn't mean its a habit. Stop worrying.

Urgh.

He's basically my brother! Of course I'm worried.

What's surprising is that Jacob and Carter seemed to understand whatever is happening cause they're almost always clueless. I walked in on the boys talking as early as six in the morning, sitting shirtless in the living room, chatting. The funny thing about it though, was that I was completely nonchalant  about it since its seriously nothing I've never seen - but, Logan on the other hand panicked like a fucking pigeon near a human and flew upstairs with a short 'good morning'. He didn't even wait for a reply.

As I made myself a smoothie after the whole ordeal, I was irritated to see the boys talking in whispers.

Like, fuck.

I walked into AP Lit grumpily. Mr. McQueen sat on his desk reading a worn out copy of what looked like Wuthering Heights. I hoped that complicated shit wasn't part of our course.

I threw my books on the corner desk near the door where I sat last time and lay down on my hands.

"Morning, love," someone called a few moments later as they sat down beside me.

"Morning, Luke," I wished, turning my head to face him, resting it on my palms. I didn't bother correcting him. He didn't seem to mean anything serious by the endearment. It was playful and flirty, much like his personality, from what I'd gathered.

"Why the long face?" he asked.

"I'm annoyed." I stated.

"That's quite obvious, Izzy," he pointed out. I was shocked to hear my name from him. It's the first time he called my anything other than 'love'. "What happened?" he questioned.

"Logan is being weird," I mumbled.

"Why?"

"That's exactly I what I - " I stopped abruptly, "Hey, Log," I greeted Logan who just took an empty seat in front of me.

"Bells," he nodded in acknowledgement, "Lucian," and then turned around to face the front.

"See?" I hissed in a whisper towards Luke, throwing my hands up in exasperation.

He merely frowned in reply, looking at Logan as if trying to figure it all out.

The bell for first period rang.

"Take out your notes notebooks," Mr. McQueen began unceremoniously, "We'll continue Figures of Speech . . ."

**********

"Finally," I breathed, as the bell signaling the end of the lesson rang. Luke let out a low chuckle as he heard me and I offered him a sheepish smile. Mr. McQueen stopped teaching and the students piled out of the class like cattle. Like before, I decided to wait till the rush cleared.

I saw Luke talking to a few girls beside me so I let him be. I noticed Logan was sitting in his seat too, and had his attention solely on Tarter.

"You coming, Log?" I asked as I swept my books off the table.

He turned to me, feigning surprise.

"Isabelle," he said, taking my full name like a stranger. That stung. "You go ahead, I'll join you at lunch, maybe."

Maybe.

Tarter smirked at me smugly. I shot them both a glare.

Fine. That's how its gonna be? He's gonna ignore me? Then fuck him.

"Don't bother," I said coldly and stepped out of the classroom. To say I was mad would be an understatement.

"Izzy!" Luke called after me.

"What?" I snapped.

"Whoa, okay," he tried to placate me, "Calm down, love."

"That's the worst thing to tell somebody who's pissed off, Lucian!" I exclaimed.

"Okay, fair point," he conceded, "but please, try to," he reasoned.

"I have a free period now, I'll go to the library to blow off steam," I sighed, "I'll probably skip lunch so don't wait up."

He nodded and I walked away.

I stepped into the quiet library. It was practically empty. Either it wasn't a popular hotspot or not many people had a free period. I dumped my books on a table near the window and walked in the aisles to look for a good book to read.

I was passing the poetry section when I spotted a familiar figure, making me stop.

"Freya!" I burst out.

"Hey, Isabelle," She greeted.

"Where were you?" I asked, "I didn't see you in class today."

"Yeah, I was late so I skipped," she explained.

"Oh okay," I nodded, "What are you doing?" I distracted myself.

"Reading poetry," she smiled. I scrunched up my nose involuntarily and she smiled wider in amusement.

"It's not that bad," she told me. Thank god she didn't take offence.

"I'm sure its not," I tried to smile.

"Oh, Isabelle," she chuckled, "You look like you swallowed a raw egg."

"I do not," I defended, shuddering at the mental picture.

"Free period?" She asked, even though it was clear.

"Yeah," I leaned against the bookcase casually.

"Wanna go grab a bite?" she offered.

"Hmm I'd love to," I agreed, thinking of the small serving of pancakes I had. Not to mention I didn't pack lunch.

"Let's go!"

*************

I decided to have lunch with Freya in the cafeteria. I didn't want to be in the same room as Logan right then. And I'm not sure even if I did go, Benjamin and Lauren will help my mood.

One thing I liked about Freya is that she doesn't pry. When I told her I won't eat lunch with her yesterday, she had no questions. Today when I asked her if we could, she agreed. 

No questions what so ever.

I sat down on an empty table in the cafeteria. It was still half empty. I stretched my legs in front of me under the table. Why in the world did I ever think that AP Economics was a great idea? Cause I liked economics. But the way things were going, it was becoming tiresome. And this is after my first class.

God help me.

"Hey," Freya slid in next to me.

"How was Calculus," I asked. She groaned.

"How was AP Eco?" she asked in return, not answering my question.

"Draining," I confessed.

"Mine too," she whined.

"And we're only halfway through," I sighed resignedly.

"Don't remind me," she murmured, opening her sandwich. I opened mine too. We eat in a comfortable silence for a while. Then I spotted Logan a few tables over and froze. Freya noticed it.

"What's wrong?" she asked, swallowing her bite. Realizing that I'd stopped chewing, I hastily gulped down my bite and then answered, "Nothing."

I'm not one for sharing my feeling too much or with a lot of people. In hindsight, I was still wondering whether telling Luke so much so openly had been a good decision or not.

She tried to follow my gaze by I blinked rapidly and looked anywhere but there.

Where Logan is acting all happy with Tarter and her group.

When he won't even look at me properly. Rage shot through me. 

You decided to ignore him, right? When does that start?

I swear I'll kill my subconscious one of these days.

"Hi," a voice bought me out of my thoughts. A tall, athletic looking, tanned and muscled bag of flesh and bones dropped down on an empty chair at our table. He looked handsome, but frankly I've seen better. Much better.

His blonde hair was cropped short and his brown eyes were translucent. A nice jawline. 

That's all.

"Hi," I replied when I realized that the greeting was directed solely towards me. I glanced at Freya to conclude that she was totally unbothered by this whole ordeal.

"I'm Archer." he introduced. I remained silent. Something about him didn't sit well with me.

"You look gorgeous," he complimented, checking me out. 

That's what.

I detested him immediately. His gaze felt so demeaning. Not complimentary, but derogatory. I suddenly missed Jacob's presence.

"Eyes up here," I snapped at him, not bothering to neither return or acknowledge his compliment.

"You wanna go out sometime?" he asked, totally undeterred.

"Are you high?" I questioned. He didn't smell of alcohol but he couldn't be this absolutely moronic when sober, right? 

Right?

"No," he answered, "So? How about it?"

Apparently, he can.

"No." I ground out sharply.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun," he tried to persuade me.

"Can't hear me? Read my lips. I said no."

Okay, probably shouldn't have said that. His lustful gaze landed on my lips. 

Oh, my god. Are you fucking kidding me?

"Let's go," Freya suggested quietly, urging me to get up. I nodded stiffly.

We slid out of our chairs.

"Wait!" he called. We ignored him.

"I swear to god-" I began, then he grabbed my hand from behind me and pulled me to him. By this time, we had the attention of most of the cafeteria. They watched us with keen, hawk like eyes. I think I even saw a few with their phones out, shamelessly recording this.

Little pieces of shit.

"I'm the captain of the school's Lacrosse team. Don't you dare embarrass me in front of everyone. If I say we're going out, we're going out," he hissed at me.

What. A. Fucking. Jerk.

"No," I hissed back defiantly. I saw his nostrils flare in anger.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Logan getting up from his seat.

Oh, hell no.

"I'm gonna say this once, so listen carefully," I continued in the same tone, "Let. Me. Go."

"Not gonna-"

Before he could finish, my knees connected with his crotch. I pushed him back and he fell to the ground, groaning and clutching at his groin pathetically. There were gasps, wolf whistles and sympathetic winces.

I crouched down to his level, "When a girl says no, she means no," I hissed in his ear, "Remember that next time."

"You'll regret that," He hissed back.

"We'll see," I replied emotionlessly, getting up.

I dusted my hands off on my stockings. Without me noticing, a small circle had formed around us.

"What?" I snapped and they jumped, "Show's over. Scram!" 

And scram they did, except for a few, who, I assumed were his friends since they were giving me not so subtle glares. They went over to help him. I saw Tarter glaring at me as she made her way towards us.

I don't have any energy left to deal with her. I groaned inwardly.

"Impressive," Freya complemented, turning my attention to her. I couldn't even smile.

"Impressive, but stupid," she sighed, "That's going to cost you, Isabelle, he's very vindictive. He won't let this go. He might hurt y-"

"Are you okay?" Logan finally reached us. He grabbed my upper arm in a similar way that this jerk had and I reflexively pulled it out of his grip. He let me.

"If you expect me to sit by and watch as a fucking narcissist tries to force himself on me in front of half the student body, you're sorely mistaken," I addressed Freya first. Looking at Logan, I continued, "You, mister, can bloody well go and fuck yourself."

With that I walked out of the cafeteria with my head held high, ignoring the stares I got. Which were a lot.

What a fantastic day.

*******************

My phone was blowing up with notifications. Be it Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat, people were sending me so many follow/friend requests. It was in that moment that I was truly glad of keeping my accounts private.

I got out of Humanities class in a sour mood. I silenced my phone. I was tempted to switch it off but I didn't want Jacob to panic. I walked to my locker and put in the combination, opening it to stuff my textbooks in. I grabbed my books for AP Spanish and shut it back.

I walked grumpily, getting increasingly exhausted by all the stares I was receiving. Not to mention the whispers. I glared at them, and they stopped.

Nosey, spineless bastards.

"Didn't think you had it in you," a voice brought me out of my thoughts. I shifted my glare to the accuser.

"Go drown yourself, Benjamin," I scowled at him.

He shook his head with a chuckle.

"How do you even know about this? You weren't even in the cafeteria!" I exclaimed, annoyed, "And why are you smiling at me like that?" I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously.

"I'm impressed," he admitted and I scoffed.

Of course.

Boys, testosterone, fights . . . do the math.

"And as for how I know, seriously?" he ridiculed, "You are going viral."

"What?!" I screeched, halting my steps. Somebody walking behind me ran into me but with a hasty apology, he scurried away, evidently scared. An evil sense of satisfaction seeped through my bones upon watching it.

"Umm" he suddenly became uncomfortable. I started walking again and he followed, "What class do you have right now?"

"AP Spanish with Mr. Curtis. Now, spit it out, Benjamin," I snapped at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Or what? You'll knee me too?" he challenged.

"We both know its long overdue since you insist on being a gigantic jerk to me so, yes. Maybe, I will," I sneered, losing my patience.

Like you had any in the first place.

"Yeah, about that," he sighed, "I'm sorry."

"What?" I asked. Sorry? Sorry?

"I'm sorry about that," he repeated, "I was in a bad mood and took it out on you."

Its true. Every time he's interacted with someone, he's been nothing short of polite (with strangers), however forced, or close to jolly (with friends).

I opened my mouth but he gestured me to wait. I shut it, surprising myself.

"In my defense," he continued, "You looked like a spoiled, overpampered kid. I didn't expect you to be," he moved his hands in the air aimlessly, "Whatever you actually turned out to be," he said vaguely.

I raised an eyebrow at his fuzzy disclaimer.

"How do you explain your shitty behavior afterwards?" I queried, dumping my books in one of the last benches near the window. He took a seat beside me.

Did the sun rise from the West today? First an apology then all this friendliness.

"Umm I'm sure you can figure it out," he mumbled.

I can.

His ego.

But, being the bitch I am, I want to hear it from him.

"I don't know," I said, lying easily.

He groaned, "You can. You wanna hear it from me."

I'm impressed. Not many can catch me lie.

"Maybe," I hedged.

"Isabelle," he said flatly.

"Benjamin," I mocked.

"Why are you following me around?" I asked, changing the topic.

"I'm not, I have the same class you do," he rolled his eyes.

"Stalker," I scoffed jokingly, regardless.

"I think I liked it better when we weren't on speaking terms," he poked me.

Poked me. Wow.

"Me too," I jested. He smiled in response.

"You know," I started, "You're actually more bearable when you're not busy trying to be a colossal jerk to me all the while," I told him.

"Me too," he chuckled. Then he turned somber, "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Hun?" I was thrown.

"Lunch, Archer, kneeing his balls," he winced almost imperceptibly at the last part, "Ring a bell?"

"Ohh," I laughed in realization, "Yeah I'm fine," I answered, "Can't say the same for Archer though. He bruised more than just his balls today." I scrunched up my nose.

With a calm mind, I can actually assess the damage I caused today. He is probably a Senior if he's a captain. That might not end up well for me, since I'm new. And a Junior. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.

"It'll be okay," he comforted me with a sense of knowingness but the action still had an awkward air to it.

"You still didn't tell me how you know," I pointed out, trying to clear the awkwardness.

"Word of mouth?" he said, but it came out more like a question.

"Ben," I deadpanned. His eyes widened a little in surprise but he recovered quickly.

"They made a video and posted it on the school's student page on Instagram. And tweeted on twitter." he informed me.

"Is this a journalism school?" I spat rhetorically. He shrugged to humor me.

Goddammit.

I hope Jacob doesn't find out. He's not exactly happy when I'm using violence as an answer.

"I hope that the accounts are private," I murmured.

"They are," he assured me.

"Thank God," I released a long breath. He chuckled lowly.

We lapsed into silence. We'd been early to class, so people were still trickling in.

Mr. Curtis was late to class. The bell rang but we were still waiting for him ten minutes later. I did not miss the looks I received. Stares to be precise. Benjamin and I sat there playing on our phones to pass time.

"Twenty Questions?" I suggested, exasperated when all I saw on my social media was requests from unknown people.

"Sure," He shrugged easily.

"Awesome."

We both pursed our lips, waiting for the other to speak.

"Shoot," I told him.

"There's so much we don't know about each other," He exhaled.

The whole point of the game is to change that, you moron.

"Well, considering that we met day before yesterday and were jerks to each other most of it, I'd say its actually normal," I pointed out instead, releasing a chuckle.

"Well . . ." he trailed off.

"Urgh, you nincompoop, I'll start," I declared, a little annoyed and slightly amused , "What's your full name?" I asked.

"Benjamin Felix Rodriguez," he said, "Yours?"

"Isabelle Rose King," I told him.

"Favorite color?" he asked.

"Its a tie between azure and violet. What about you?"

"Blue."

"That's so boyishly cliché of you," I laughed.

"Shut up," he said, though laughed, too, "Its actually cerulean blue," he improvised.

I must say I'm surprised. I didn't expect a boy to be able to differentiate between shades of blue.

"Better," I approved with a nod.

"Favorite flower?" I asked.

"Carnations," he told me, "And yours?"

"Roses," I replied guiltily.

"Ha! Who's cliché now?"

"Meh," I brushed him off.

"Any siblings?" he asked.

"Yup, an older brother," I responded, "And you?"

"A step sister," he admitted. Hun? 

"Oh, really?" I was surprised. What about Elijah? "Is she our age?" I asked and he nodded, "Does she go here?"

"Yeah," he revealed, "But only the boys know about it."

"Lauren?" I guessed, thinking of the only other girl in the group. Not to mention they seem cozy, so . . .

"What? No!" he denied, "The boys don't know her either . . . they weren't there for the wedding and they haven't come around at my place since," he explained.

"Oh okay," I nodded, "How is it, suddenly having a sister your age?"

"It's . . . a huge change. We get along well, surprisingly, so that's not an issue. It's just that I was used to being the only child so it was hard to adjust. She helped. I'm learning from her, you know," he rambled, "She gives me girl advice and chastises me when I mess up. She's so cool. She always forgives me when I invade her privacy by mistake, too! I remember I was so scared when it happened for the first time. She traded a Froyo for forgiveness. I always wanted a sibling and she is more than I could've ask for."

He took a deep breath.

"First time talking about her so openly?" I asked, pleasantly amused.

"Yeah," he laughed breathily.

"She sounds amazing, Ben," I told him.

"Don't call me that," he mumbled.

"Do you have a good reason why I can't?"

"I just don't like it," he answered.

"Not good enough," I clicked my tongue, "Ben."

He shook his head.

"This doesn't mean we're friends," he declared.

I cocked a brow at him.

"Do you always talk about your secret step-sister with people who aren't your friends?" 

He flushed a little, caught in a fix.

"Well, you're easy to talk to," he mumbled under his breath, sounding surprised.

"Still not friends?" I asked smugly.

"We'll get there, eventually," he stood his ground.

"You're such an asshole," I stated, rolling my eyes.

"I've been called worse," he shrugged with a smile.

The classroom door opened and in walked Mr. Curtis, stealing our attention.

"Sorry I'm late, let us begin," He began the lecture. Ben and I looked at each other and smiled reflexively before looking away again.

I have a good feeling about this friendship . . . for whenever we get there.

**************

"Isabelle," Freya called. We were in Gym class, waiting for the Coach Lockhart to come. I was bored so I was running laps around the spacious room. There were a few boys running around in groups too.

I heard her but since I was still a little miffed from her reaction in the cafeteria earlier, I didn't let it show that I did.

Talking to Ben helped. He didn't chastise me, he didn't reproach me, he just let me be. Not to mention the casual talk actually helped in distracting myself. He lifted my mood.

"Isabelle," Freya panted, catching up to me. I sighed in defeat as I pulled to a stop.

"Yes?" I questioned, wiping the sheen layer of sweat off my forehead.

"I . . . I just-" she stuttered a little, "I'm sorry," she exhaled.

I was silent.

"Say something?" she suggested after a while.

She did look sorry. I was going to say something when she started off again.

"You were right, you should not sit by and let someone abuse you like that. I was wrong. I'm sorry-"

"Freya, it's fine," I sighed, "You meant well."

"Really?" she breathed.

"Yeah," I gave her a small smile.

"Okay," she grinned.

"Run with me?" I asked. She made a face.

"Hard pass," she replied, shaking her head.

I chuckled.

"Fine, then, see you."

I didn't even complete another half round when I was disturbed again. By Alex and Nick. They came over from behind me and jogged along on one of my sides each.

"You didn't have lunch with us today," Alexander pointed out.

"Really?" I drawled, "I didn't even notice." I picked up pace. They kept well with me.

"We saw the video," Nick said.

"Who hasn't?" I retorted.

They forced me to halt by jogging ahead of me and stopping in my way. I tried going around them but they weren't having it.

"What?" I snapped.

They looked taken aback. I rolled my eyes.

"What do you want, Alexander, Nicholas?" I asked again.

My eyes dared them to ask me about the incident.

"That was so cool," Alexander gushed.

"It looked like it hurt," Nicholas winced.

"It was meant to," I pointed out.

"We told you perverts hit on us gorgeous people in the Cafeteria," Alex shuddered dramatically. That he did.

"Us gorgeous people, hun?" I teased, "Cocky much?"

He glared at me playfully.

"Do us a favor and don't eat in the cafeteria alone this day onwards, princess," Alex said.

"Princess?" I questioned, amused, "And I wasn't alone, Freya was with me."

"Is that all you got from it?" he asked incredulously, "What's it with you today? And Freya doesn't count."

"Geez, okay," I laughed, "I won't eat in the cafeteria alone with Freya," I promised with an eye roll.

"Come eat with us," Nick urged.

"Thanks, guys."

"That reminds me, why didn't you eat with us today?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, Logan didn't show up either," Nick added thoughtfully.

I pursed my lips.

"It was nothing," I declared airily, leaving no room for anymore questions.

My eyes wandered around the gym and landed on Freya, who was sitting against wall near the locker rooms, alone with her phone. I rerouted towards her. The boys happily followed me.

I slid down against the wall beside her and drew my legs to my chest. The boys sat down in front of us, legs crossed and backs hunched. Nick played with his laces and Alex looked around.

Freya looked up from her phone.

"Alexander, Nicholas," she acknowledged.

"Eh, call me Alex," Alexander brushed off.

"Nick," he stuck out his hand.

"Freya," she chuckled, shaking his hand.

"Where's the coach?" I whined.

"Right here, Ms. King," his voice came from nearby and I jumped, blushing slightly.

"Mr. Lockhart, good afternoon," I greeted once I'd recovered. He gave me an amused smile and walked towards the center of the Gym. As soon as he did, the people around be burst into chortles.

"Mr. Lockhart, good afternoon," Alex mimicked me in a shrill voice.

I glared at him.

"Shut up," I pushed myself up. I glanced at Freya, who was laughing too.

"And here I thought you were my friends." I shook my head.

"Oh, princess, we are," Alex snickered, "And that's exactly why we're laughing."

I let out a chuckle.

"El tonto (idiots)," I muttered under my breath.

"Hey, we're not idiots" Freya protested.

"Como sabes Español?" I asked, intrigued. She doesn't take Spanish as far as I know. She confirmed my thoughts by giving me a blank look.

"How do you know?" I simplified. A look of realization struck in her face.

"Oh," she blushed, "My brother takes Spanish," she explained, "He loves to show off his colorful vocabulary in front of me and our parents," she rolled her eyes.

I chuckled. I did that initially too, but I forgot how my mother is a descendent of the Latinos. Safe to say, it was a habit I got out of quickly.

"Get our asses here, all of you!" Coach hollered. He is a little scary. Dropping our conversations without further ado, we jogged over to get today's assignments.

************************

"There you are," Luke crushed me into a hug as soon as I entered the bustling parking lot after school. I patted his back awkwardly. Judging from the reactions and greetings my friends gave me when I met them today, I knew exactly where this was going.

"Everything is okay," I soothed.

"Okay?" he asked incredulously with undertones of anger. He pulled away and held me at an arms length, clutching my shoulders in his grip.

"Yes, Lucian," I sighed.

"How can you be so chill about the fact that that guy couldn't take a no?" he dropped his hands to his sides.

"Honestly?" I began, "It's not that big of a deal. I kicked him because of the adrenaline rush but all he wanted was a date."

"I know Archer," his eyes darkened, "Trust me when I say it wasn't going to be just a date."

I shivered.

"Good thing I took action then, isn't it?" I joked lightly, trying to ease him.

He wasn't amused.

"You are not eating in the cafeteria this day onwards without at least of us with you, got it?" he ordered sternly.

"Nick and Alex already beat you to the punch, but okay," I rolled my eyes.

"Keep rolling your eyes, maybe you'll find a brain back there," he teased half-heartedly.

I awarded his efforts with a good natured smack on his arm.

"Be, Lucian," I waved at him, walking away to my car.

"Bye, Isabelle." he nodded and we went our separate ways.

___________________________
21st April 2021
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Old cover above, new cover below! What're your thoughts?? I made them both myself!!